Volkswagen is nearing the end of the road in the dieselgate scandal in Australia, as the car company agrees to an in-principle resoltion of enforcement action by the ACCC while also finalising the details of the settlement of five class actions worth up to $127 million.
The Queensland law firm at the centre of a class action over legal fees wants the case thrown out as an abuse of process, after it was revealed that the lead plaintiff apparently sold her litigation rights to a litigation funder, whose sole director is married to the solicitor who filed the action.
US prenatal genetic test maker Ariosa Diagnostics has won its bid to appeal a ruling that its Harmony test infringed a patent owned by rival Sequenom.
A judge has overturned a win for Bendigo and Adelaide Bank in a trade mark battle with NSW-based Community First Credit Union, finding the credit union had successfully argued to revoke the bank’s 20-year-old trade mark for ‘Community Bank’.
Expect increasing emphasis by judges on how much class action members will pocket, as scrutiny of settlements in representative proceedings continues to ramp up, says King & Wood Mallesons in the law firm’s latest class action report.
A judge has ordered engineering services firm CIMIC Group to pay the costs of a 2017 attempt to stay a competing class action against it, saying the bid was one the company “could never have successfully prosecuted”.
The prudential regulator is standing by its decision to bring proceedings against IOOF for alleged breaches of superannuation duties, despite criticism that such a “highly litigious regulatory environment” is placing immense pressure on financial services executives.
The CEO of Sydney’s 2GB and Melbourne’s 3AW radio stations, Adam Lang, has sued the publisher of the Sunday Telegraph for defamation over articles he claims portrayed him as an incompetent, sadistic executive who created a toxic work atmosphere.
The ACCC has won a record $26.5 million penalty against defunct vocational trainer Empower Institute for “duping” disadvantaged customers into enrolling in courses they couldn’t afford with the promise of free laptops and cash.
National car repair franchise Ultra Tune is preparing negligence suits against its former lawyers and auditors, after the company on Friday won a $590,000 reduction in a $2.6 million penalty for breaches of the Franchising Code of Conduct.
For information on rights and reprints, contact subscriptions@lawyerly.com.au
